Open Forum

Trump first

Trump’s “America first” foreign policy is a cloak for his all consuming ‘Trump first” agenda and, like his domestic policies, aims to wrong-foot traditional norms and institutions to tighten his authoritarian control. #USA

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What to expect from COP30?

The United Nations COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian Amazon city of Belém faces a new range of challenges, not least the open hostility of the Trump administration. #COP30

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Name badges help protect retail staff from customer abuse

A QUT team has found that simple personalised “under badges” worn by frontline retail staff can make them more relatable and significantly reduce verbal abuse from customers. #retail

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As Australian health spending falls to pre-pandemic levels, increasing investment in prevention would be good for the economy, good for communities, and good for our overstretched healthcare system.

#Auspol

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Generative artificial intelligence can automate routine tasks, freeing employees to focus on more strategic and creative work, while reducing costs and accelerating time to market but new research highlights the factors hindering its adoption. #AI

www.openforum.com.au/unlocking-th...

Aged care in rural Australia needs digital health tech

Digital health technologies can help Australia’s rural health and aged care systems cut costs, increase efficiency and connect staff, residents and patients to other services. #Health

www.openforum.com.au/aged-care-in...

Lonely? Me too

Loneliness is quietly emerging as one of the most significant health issues in Australia, affecting people of all ages, backgrounds and life stages, so what steps can we take to make friends? #Loneliness

www.openforum.com.au/lonely-me-too/

Investing in the future of science

If Australia wants to lead in fields such as clean energy, advanced manufacturing and health technology, it must invest in its national research infrastructure. #Science

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Why we love – or hate – AI

For all the promises of personal convenience and business optimisation, many people remain suspicious of AI tools. The answer may lay in human neuroscience rather than the technology itself. #AI

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The “leaky pipeline” has been used to justify the attrition of women from science and technology but the metaphor obscures the cultural, structural and institutional barriers that continue to obscure women’s career pathways in academic and industry STEMM. #STEM

www.openforum.com.au/plugging-the...

Could a ‘grey swan’ sink AI?

Could a ‘grey swan’ – a rare but foreseeable event such as the popping of an economic bubble – upset the current hype around Artificial Intelligence? #AI

www.openforum.com.au/could-a-grey...

The dismissal of Gough Whitlam as Australia’s Prime Minister 50 years ago remains seared in the memory of many Australians who were adults or even children at the time, and was a life-changing day for everyone in Canberra’s Parliament House. #History

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The case for civil defence

The escalating geostrategic threats to Australia demand more than military might in response and a resilient, united and proactive civil defence framework could help safeguard citizens and build national resilience. #Auspol

www.openforum.com.au/the-case-for...

As well as the obvious physical differences between men and women, a growing body of scientific evidence shows hundreds of genes act differently in the brains of the two sexes. #Neuroscience

www.openforum.com.au/how-genetics...

Are people resigned to losing data privacy?

Governments and corporations are collecting ever more personal information on us all to control our lives and bombard us with advertising but most citizens and consumers don’t seem to care. #Privacy

www.openforum.com.au/why-dont-peo...

Pimp your photosynthesis

Scientists at the University of Sydney and Australian National University are working to improve the efficiency of crop photosynthesis through bio-engineering. #Agriculture

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Multiculturalism has been central to Australian politics for decades, but its meaning has shifted over time — from former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam’s rights-based framing to later emphases on cohesion, productivity and security. #Auspol

www.openforum.com.au/the-many-sid...

The Australian case for US power

As criticism of the United States grows louder in Australian circles, many are quick to declare the end of American leadership without considering what comes next. #Auspol

www.openforum.com.au/the-australi...

Turn up the sun

UNSW researchers are working towards a new generation of solar technology that could increase efficiency by turning one particle of light into two packets of energy. #Energy

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Xi’s fear of humiliation explains China’s projection of strength abroad and the Communist Party’s obsession with control at home, but the CCP’s inability to admit fault will doom it to collapse, like every authoritarian regime before it. #China

www.openforum.com.au/a-room-witho...

Six of the best

A decade after its introduction, Australia can learn a range of lessons from the aims and implementation of Wales’ ground breaking future generations law. #Auspol

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Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has acknowledged that “intergenerational fairness is one of the defining principles of our country” but the lack of response to the recent Climate Risk Assessment Report suggests there’s little appetite for action. #Climatechange

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Global Access Partners has convenined senior figures from business, government, academia and the nonprofit sector at NSW Parliament House to discuss Australia’s demographic challenges. #GAP

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The Great Emu War failed to eradicate emus from the wheatbelt of Western Australia in 1932, despite the best efforts of Royal Australian Artillery soldiers to mow down the flightless birds with lewis guns. #Australia

www.openforum.com.au/the-ballad-o...

AI's doorman fallacy

CEOs are stampeding to replace staff with AI, but despite the lofty promises of the tech companies, many companies aren’t seeing the payoff. #AI

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Despite the defeat of the Federal voice referendum, the State Parliament of Victoria has passed a Treaty Bill which will create a costly legal and bureaucratic tangle that is unlikely to improve the lives of Indigenous people. #Auspol

www.openforum.com.au/unpacking-vi...

Walking the talk on transparency

The Albanese government hasn’t “walked its talk” about accountability and integrity and needs to honor its stated commitment to transparency to restore public trust in democracy and its institutions. #auspol

www.openforum.com.au/forums/walki...

Saving social cohesion

There is increasing consensus that social cohesion in an increasingly divided and multicultural Australia is in decline, but there seems little urgency or action to tackle the problem. #Auspol

www.openforum.com.au/forums/savin...

Red lines in the grey zone

Constant grey-zone aggression by China and Russia has furthered their strategic aims with little consequence and it’s time for the West to draw clear lines to deter further transgressions. #defence

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New analysis has highlighted the enormous scale of deforestation in Australia, exacerbated by ‘deforestation loopholes’ and weak nature laws that provide special carve outs to industry and allow rampant destruction of the bush. #Australia

www.openforum.com.au/only-a-third...